This write-up will help us understand what exactly organizations require to strengthen their pillars of automation and achieve better performance & higher savings. These pillars are nothing but essential sub-process areas that fuel all AP processes like supplier master data management, early payment discounts, etc. Each step in itself plays a crucial role in assisting AP teams in fulfilling separate business requirements. And yet, when combined logically and leveraged in total, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They are:
- Supplier data management
- Electronic invoicing
- Touchless invoice processing
- Discount management
In a situation where manual processes lead to errors and increase the efforts to validate information, automation can work wonders by helping save not just time but also cost for your AP organization. Take a look at a few activities and their performance stats in the pre and post-automation stages–
| Type of activities | Time taken | |
| No automation | Post automation | |
| Check for duplicate entries1 | 75% | Not required as duplicate entries are completely avoided by automation |
| Verification of TIN1 | 66% | Self-registration process in SIM by suppliers will help in maintaining a centralized repository of updated, compliant supplier information |
| Cycle time for invoice processing2 | 17.1 days | 3.9 days taken via touchless processing |
| Process cost per invoice2 | $15.38 | Reduced to $2.87 post automation |
| % of AP inquiries resolved on initial contact3 | 13% | Increased to 29% through automated supplier self-service status check |
| % of suppliers that submit invoices electronically4 | 12.6% | Rocketed to 47.3% after implementing automated SIM module |
The above facts clearly state that automation is the key for organizations to transition to new technology and ultimately, a better and more enhanced tomorrow.
To know how you can strengthen your organization’s pillars of automation, please download our latest whitepaper “4 Pillars to AP Automation”
Sources-
- Invocus’ 2017 AP Report Card
- Ardent Partners 2016 Eyes on the Prize
- The Hackett Group 2015 Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) Performance Study
- Ardent Partners 2016 Eyes on the Prize
